Onne Port phase four project for completion in 2014THE oil companies in the country have contributed $100 billion (N15.7 billion) to the coffers of the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) since inception of the scheme in 2010.Meanwhile, the $2 billion (N320 billion) Phase 4 jetty under construction in Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone (FTZ), Port Harcourt, is expected be completed in 2014.The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Ernest Nwapa, said the contribution level was as at this month.Nwapa said at Nigeria Oil and Gas Trade and Investment Forum 2012 organised by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and Orlean Invest West Africa Limited, in Porthacourt at the weekend, that designated accounts for NCDF and procedure for payment of one per cent sum had been set up for the initiative.'The new fund would be used as a pool to attract and facilitate venture capital. Professionals will run the NCDF and it is expected to close all the identified gaps in the old fund', he saidAccording to him. the fund would be managed by the board of NCMB and was different from the $350 million Local Content Fund, which was put together by NNPC in 2007 to serve as a working capital for Nigerian companies that got service contracts in the industry.Nwapa said: 'In this case, you need to demonstrate the bankability of an investment and the board will begin to talk to you.'You are going to show a business plan and prove that the investment will be able to repay the loan.'The fund will not be managed by engineers or officials of the board. It will be managed by a proper fund manager with international best practices. So, there is no question of utilising the fund for what it is not meant for,' he explained.Nwapa said the vision of the NCMB was to grow the fund and use it to attract other financial players who would leverage on it such that Nigerian service providers would do business knowing that the fund was available for them to use.He called on Nigerian investors to take advantage of the immense opportunities which the Nigerian Content Act had created for them.'Even if you create these opportunities and Nigerians do not take them, the board would not become manufacturers.'The board would only protect the rights of manufacturers, so Nigerians should take advantage of the law,' Nwapa said.Speaking during the tour of the FTZ, Head, Commercial, Intels Nigeria Limited, Iuri Tarmulus, said that the construction work at the zone was being handled Property Development Company Limited and over 9000 piles had been sunk at the new jetty.'Over 30 million cubic meters of sand had been used to sand-fill the new jetty and $500 million had so far been invested therein and the total projected amount to be invested in $2 billion.'Iuri said about 95 per cent of oil and gas companies operated from the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone, adding that it possessed over four kilometers stretch of jetties, with over four million square kilometers.According to him, Onne port now pride it self as producer of what is tagged Christmas tree, a technical machine used in the process of oil exploration, a great achievement by one of the occupying company at the port.
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